León, Nicaragua - October 15, 2012

This last week has been filled with new experiences and challenges.

We had the visit with our new Circuit Overseer and his wife - Todd and Lori Schleper - which we thoroughly enjoyed. They are originally from Vancouver, Canada but have spent the last number of years in Honduras working in the Spanish field. They were recently asked to step back over and help with the English field. They have suggested that we try and approach as many people as possible as we are walking along the streets and asking them if they speak English. We have found great success with this method. They suggested that we set up information tables at the Universities and locations where English speakers frequent (like La Union Grocery store).  Quite often we have difficulty finding people at home - even when we have made appointments with them - they have suggested that we get email address and keep in contact with interested ones that way.

Pat and I were thrilled to enjoy the whole Pioneer Meeting with Brother Schleper and hope that we can enjoy many more in the future. We also had a nice "picnic" themed lunch with them on Wednesday (potato salad, cold chicken, tomato, cucumber and nice fresh buns from Pan y Paz Bakery).

Kids in La Paz Centro

La Paz Centro continues to be a rich field of bible studies. While we were at La Paz Centro last Friday we were able to search two more blocks.  Pat found a fellow and demonstrated the bible study arrangement with him. Shannon and I found a Spanish family who have recently started studying and they were so excited that we called on their door. The twenty year old son speaks some English and we found out that they have family in Granada that are also studying.   We only have a few more blocks left to search and then we need to start calling back on all the English speakers that we found.

Lydia and Pancho

On the challenging side was adjusting to a new housemate. Who knew that birds had distinct personalities and could be a challenge to look after? Well, I had no clue, that's for sure. Pancho really hasn't decided if he trusts us yet but he does follow us around like a little dog. He doesn't like it if we get too "personal" like trying to feed him with our fingers (be careful or he will bite!) Also, he is a Houdini - he can escape from his cage at will.  Bananas are no longer his favorite food - he now loves the butter cookies that we buy from the bakery. He loves them so much that he even flew from his cage to our dining room table and then allowed Pat to feed him by hand.

Because we are such novices with birds we have had to resort to the assistance of our very own congregation "bird whisperer" - Lydia. Lydia has had birds all her life and knows how to get them to do just about everything and anything. I'm sure she will do a great job at training Pancho as well as us.